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The Scottish referendum debate shows that people can be re-engaged with politics if they are given "a real choice", Ed Miliband has said,

The Labour leader wants a new 'Public Question Time' that he says would help "let people into politics" - and he says the lively debate on Scottish independence has given a good example of public engagement with politics.

"Go to Scotland and talk to people about what's happening there and the referendum, people are interested," he told the BBC's Andrew Marr Show.

"If you show people there's a real choice and things can be different and you let people into politics, it can happen - we didn't seek that referendum but it has engaged people in politics."

Ed Miliband says there should be a 'Public Question Time' where ordinary people can go to Parliament to put questions to the Prime Minister.

The Labour leader told the BBC's Andrew Marr Show the idea would "let people into our politics" by making politicians answerable to the public.

Ed Miliband said a 'Public Question Time' would help 'let people into our politics'. Credit: BBC/Andrew Marr Show

He said the move would help deal with some of the public's dissatisfaction with the way Prime Minister's Questions is conducted.

"At the moment there's the glass that separate the public in the gallery from the House of Commons but there is a gulf a mile wide from the kind of politics people want and what Prime Minister's Questions offers," he argued.